Enhanced network accessibility for the blind and visually impaired

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IP - Integrated Project

Obiettivo

Internet has a great impact on people's life. Through the Web, information can be accessed remotely; people can interact with friends and family; services such as online shopping, paying bills and distant learning can be provided to the public. However, people with blindness or other form of disability are not able to take full advantage due to the inaccessibility in the technology itself.

Even though the technology should be able to benefit people with disability as much as to the advantaged people. Moreover if the problem of inaccessibility is not solved, the discrepancy will become bigger as the information technology advances. This project is determined to address this problem with two approaches:- developing technologies that create universal accessible contents on the Web, and algorithms that convert existing inaccessible contents to be accessible;- developing (ubiquitous) tools that enable easy access to information, and interfaces that are adaptable and interoperable no matter where the user is and what equipment the user is using.

To achieve the objectives of this project, research and development work will be focused on four areas:- accessible Web content;- adaptable interfaces;- mobile computing;- wireless networking. Research and development work will be supported by training activities involving local user organizations and SMEs.These training activities will set up a sound foundation for uptake and dissemination of project results.